09 September 2021, by Harris Rajahdin, Officer, Bar Council PII & Risk Management Department
As they say, time is money. Time is like a commodity, where you can never replace it, once it’s gone. People always complain that there is never enough time, in fact there is plenty of it to go around – 24 hours in fact.
Just as you need to control personal spending and learn to live within an expense budget, effective time management requires you to effectively use time – allocation of time to complete tasks, or what is known as deadlines. Not only time management can ensure you get your work done, it also ensures that the ensuing work can be carried out smoothly.
Say for example in a factory operation, there are different operations that take place to produce the end result. Every step of the operation involves the coordination of different operations and processes in a sequential manner within a certain timeframe. Imagine what would happen if a process cannot take place due to a breakdown of a machine or supply of raw material. Here comes the risk – a delay in production which involves cost and profit.
So, a good time management strategy is key towards a law practice running efficiently, thus increasing its productivity.
The value of time
The practice of law is a profession providing legal services. Although a provider of legal services, the law practice still needs money to pay bills (and salaries).
The day-to-day life of a lawyer usually involves:
- Dealing with government bodies and the judiciary;
- Preparation of documents;
- Attending court dates;
- Attend meetings;
- Meeting clients;
- Overseeing staff’s work;
- Prepare file updates;
and the list goes on.
Hence, a lawyer should calculate the value of his time as a function of cost and earning. Placing a money value on time simply means:
- calculating how much it costs for a law practice to keep someone employed (or pay one’s own salary);
- adding on a suitable profit margin that commensurate with industry standards or the demands of your clients; and then
- dividing the total by the number of working hours in a month to arrive at the average per hour.
The amount arrived at will be the hourly time cost or the value of your time. This should be a start at how you value your time worth and start managing your time better.
Benefits of time management
- Work satisfaction
- A work or task completed on time will lead to sense of pride and accomplishment. In the long run, you will experience the feeling of job satisfaction and higher levels of productivity in your work.
- Less stress
- The failure to complete your work on time will lead to more work piling up and in the end, will develop feelings of stress and anxiety.
- Better quality of health
- Stress caused by the failure to meet deadlines will cause long-term effects to your mood and even your health.
- Better sleep quality
- The inability to complete work on time will lead to restless nights and even staying up late to complete the pending task. This can lead to irritability, inability to concentrate and forgetfulness.
Tips to better manage your time
- Prepare a to do list
- Write down a to-do list, with two columns - label the first column ‘Urgent’ and the next one as ‘Important’. Discern which ones you set as goals to be attempted or completed for the day. Set a time limit or due date for each task and don’t be shy to switch tasks when facing difficulties in completing a certain task.
- Take short breaks
- Completing tasks under a stressful situation can be daunting. Take short breaks to gather your thoughts and recharge while completing a task, and when you have completed a task. But of course, don’t get too distracted with other things until you lose focus (and track of time).
- List down ideas or notes
- Take note of those random thoughts or ideas that float into your mind while completing an unrelated task. Once you have free time, look back at the note and expand your thoughts. You can then refer the note to the related task or work.
- Avoid procrastination
- There are many reasons to procrastinate. It can be due to anxiety, where difficult tasks gets ‘put off’ and only attended to once the anxiety level is alleviated. It can be due to distractions, mismanagement of time, over confident, and so on. Whatever the reason may be, once you have set a time to complete a task, don’t avoid it. Instead, make an attempt to start on it, and soon you’ll find yourself slowly getting things done (and facing your fears – pun intended).
- Minimise distractions
- Stay focused by setting limits, where necessary and possible. Example, allocate a time dedicated to replying emails, switching your phone to silent mode during intense research, check social media at intervals throughout the day and set time limit.
If you find that your time management is suffering largely because it is taxing to manage the intricacies of teamwork-based tasks, communicate your distress to the team manner to find a solution to work more efficiently.
Most importantly, identify the main source of time-wastage in your day. Once the factors have been identified, see if you can address if it is triggered by your unhelpful cognitions, or perhaps try the chunking technique to improve your time management and eventually improve your overall wellbeing to having a good work-life balance.